Hot off the purchase of $85 million in air rights, and with a new construction loan of $860 million in tow, developer Hines is back on track to bring the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA residential tower to fruition. Hines just closed on two deals to buy more than 240,000 square feet of development rights from MoMA and the St. Thomas Episcopal Church for $85.3 million. — 6sqft
After being stalled for seven years, construction on Jean Nouvel's MoMA tower will begin this year. The tower has shrunk about 200 feet since it was first unveiled, but the design remains wholly the same. Funding and the acquisition of new air rights are what's brining the project, more than a decade in the making, to fruition.
12 Comments
Not a big fan of skyscrapers but this is one of the coolest towers to go up. It has some kind of Darth Vader/Hugh Ferris look.
Nice ! I like this one....
The Two Towers!
Both filled with Republican Billionaires and their man on the ground, Mr. Lowry.
$1B to build 145 luxury condos.
Barf.
$1B to employ 100's of construction workers.
Ingest.
The Pyramids "employed" thousands of workers as well.
Just would be nice if it were more useful... most of these will be unoccupied "investments" for the uber-rich.
And where exactly is that money coming from? MoMA gets millions in funding from tax payers like you. The Fleecing of America at work.
The towers perfectly embody how MoMA evolved from a curatorial driven institution to what it is now.... corporate lobby feel literally shadowed by massive residences for rich plutocrats. They are an institution run by Goldman Sachs, not art.
This place looks like "the villains lair"...which is exactly what it is... Life imitates art...the fascist dystopian aesthetic of sci-if cinema is being shamelessly slapped in our faces and most appropriately representing the fascist dystopian reality we live in. The plutocrats are out of the closet.
May as well just slap a tesla coil on the roof to complete the look.
Prediction: The old Folk Facade will end up in the penthouse of the top floor apartment suite. Already, much of the MoMA's art fills the residences, quid pro quo for massive donations that fund the MoMA's unnecessary expansionism. Eventually the lowly MoMA will house nothing but Jay Z performances, art bay shows with video games, etc, while the real art rotates around the Two Towers, too valuable for the people. There will be the "People's" art and then the real art, too valuable for the common man, and not gimmicky enough for the next Uniqlo sponsored Koons/Warhol show.
Wow, it's like they never built for the rich in New York before! It's just another condo tower, not a fascist revival. As for Moma being a sell out, when you pay millions for Jeff Koon's stuff, how is this news? Art has been a comodity for ages, it's just that what passes for art these days is who can sell their schtick and persona the best. I know the Folk Art museum was an emotional loss for many, and I sympathize as one who hates to see our train stations , factories, and warehouses still going down for parking lots, but Moma has been buying realestate and tearing down nice buildings since its inception. Remember the mantra of down with the old and never trust someone over whatever? Tearing down the past is in the Moma's DNA only this time it happened to be USDA prime beef modernism, and now the wiff of money stinks? Maybe it should have been less darth vaderish and more hugh ferris, but it beats another uptight glass rod.
Opulent palaces for the rich is nothing new, but the transition of MoMA from art museum to department store for idiots seems like something new.... And a outcome of the lowest common denominator marketing that attracts large crowds and makes more money.
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